Get ready for Saturday’s Tenant Town Hall!

May 15, 2013

DC’s Tenant Town Hall is a unique opportunity for DC’s renters to talk directly with their government to address the issues that make housing unsafe or unaffordable to them. This year’s Tenant Town Hall will be no different. The annual event draws over 250 residents as well as elected and appointed officials who respond to tenant concerns.

This year the Town Hall is being hosted by two fierce fighters for tenant rights – Silvia Salazar of the Norwood Coop and Juanita McKenzie of Petworth Station. Both women are leaders in their buildings and both have worked with their neighbors for years to win improvements in the conditions of their apartment buildings. In addition, the Norwood tenant association was able to purchase their building to keep it affordable in fast-paced Logan Circle. After years of fighting with management about the broken elevator, bedbugs, and rodents, the tenants purchased the building using the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act and with financial support from DC government.

The Tenant Town Hall will focus on both of these issues: how to make sure that DC maintains and produces housing that is affordable for people with low incomes, and that the conditions of these buildings are good. Agencies such as the Department of Housing and Community Development and the DC Housing Authority will be available from 1:00 – 2:00 to address tenants concerns individually, and the directors of agencies as well as DC Councilmembers will address resident concerns in the program starting at 2:00.

Housing for All Blog is a project of the Housing For All Campaign. We believe all District residents deserve decent, quality housing at a price they can afford, and call on District officials to create a full Continuum of Housing that will meet that need.